Halcyon is a spire of modest size whose purpose is to care for people
driven insane by magic or other means. It overlooks a high valley in
the western part of Zenith – not terribly far from the Cargo road or the
Weave, but lies sufficiently far from the major roads that few
people pass through except to visit the Spire itself… and the Spire does
not have many visitors. Its economic presence is currently minor, and
its interests in the outside world largely concern taking on new
patients, returning the fortunate few who recover enough, and
contributing to research into mind-altering effects.

Halcyon is run by a Board of Governors whose Chair serves as Arbiter – this is currently Eudaemon,
who constituted the spire’s first Anvil delegation in decades when he
travelled there in Winter 377.

Of course this is an asylum and many of the people here will not be entirely sane. In fact… make that most… no, all
of them. From the Board members who are merely a little stressed or
agitated, up to the seriously afflicted patients who can’t string two
words together and must be kept away from metal objects, there is
enormous variety in the people of the Spire. A resident might be a lineaged character
who is degenerating into madness, or someone who experienced a ritual
mishap and saw too much, or an exorcist who has been exposed to one too
many unquiet spirits and possessions.

The focus of the group is on black comedy and experimenting with magic and metaphysics.

An intended feature is that you can play characters for a short time,
either to try out the Empire magic/healing/spirit games or as a
fall-back once a character has died or retired. When you get bored of
the character or want to join another group, it can be justified as your
character recovering and being repatriated, or becoming so dangerous
that they’re committed as a Permanent Inpatient.

The spire is specialised even by Urizen standards, and practitioners as
well as patients might come from far away to access its resources and
contribute to its purpose. As such, people joining are very welcome to
play characters who have changed nationality to become Urizen, and
plenty of variety can be accommodated.
As the concept centres on dealing with insanity and mind-altering
effects, players will have most fun if they have at least one rank of
Realm lore (particularly Day and Night), Physick, or Exorcism – abusing
rituals and collecting emotional/spiritual traumatic wounds are highly
enjoyable activities. Music and language can also be poked to your
heart’s content. Other builds particularly suited include apothecaries,
artisans, miscellaneous magicians and priests, but any character build
can fit. All lineages are welcome.

Please ask if you want to become a
member of the Board, especially one with a specific purpose such as
Treasurer or Secretary (and remember there is plenty of room to create
new titled positions). While I don’t expect the group to really be geared towards the trade
game or the military council, people should feel free to get involved
with these too. (Want to be involved in trade? Play the Treasurer or
an interested Board member. Want to play the military game? Play one
of the security staff… or a berserker undergoing treatment. And so on.)
By the same token, you can avoid a given part of the game by
roleplaying an IC phobia or aversion and asking OOC for us not to try
too hard to cure it. People are welcome to participate in the battles
but there is no pressure to do so.

The caveats of playing here are that you should not roleplay anything
likely to offend/trigger people OOC, and that you should agree in
advance with the other group members how much IC trouble you will cause.
“Creepy asylum” can be a lot of fun to play, but mental health issues
can be triggers for some people, so I strongly recommend sticking to IC
methods such as magic, liao ceremonies, or potions rather than using
real-life treatment methods. Remember also that very serious cases will
be staying behind in the Spire – those who are recovering or have more
minor afflictions are more likely be present at Anvil.

The Spire
colours are sage green and white; wearing these is encouraged (though
not compulsory) for Board members and other staff, and optional for
patients. The symbol is a white wadjet eye on a green triangle.